YOU GET THE MESSAGE: Lincoln High’s Isaiah Whitehead was among the many recruits who were peppered with text messages from coaches as soon as the NCAA’s new rule went into effect that allows for unlimited messaging. Scattered across these pages are some of the actual messages sent to local recruits. Photo: Dave Krupinski

The moment midnight struck June 15, Jon Severe’s phone began buzzing like a fly.

Text messages from new numbers came flooding in all at once. This wasn’t an emergency — it was the start of a new era, the texting age in college basketball.

It began when the NCAA opted to allow unlimited text messages and phone calls, in addition to contact through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, from coaches to players who had finished their sophomore year of high school.

It was part of a new model for recruiting that emphasizes relationship-building between coaches and prospects, which was proposed by the Division I Leadership Council after a year-long study.

Severe, a guard at Christ the King, wasn’t alone in receiving 15 text

messages from 15 different Division I coaches that night. Conrad Chambers of Team SCAN, a Bronx-based AAU program, had 15. Curtis forward Hassan Martin was sent 13 messages, Lincoln’s Isaiah Whitehead had nine and Thomas Jefferson’s Jaquan Lynch eight.

Though the messages haven’t been quite as consistent, or at such odd times of the day, they haven’t stopped, either.

“Sometimes,” the 6-foot-7 Martin said, “I text with coaches more than my friends or girls.”

SEVERAL of the city’s top standouts brought The Post into their world, opening up their phones for an inside look at what college coaches are telling them in this new age of communication.

The messages ranged from typical recruiting jargon (“Just want to tell u how much we want U and how excited we are now to get the opp to recruit u.”) to constructive (“I got a shooting drill I want you to try when you go workout.”) to odd (“U got some honeys with u?”) and unusual (“Midnight in [place of school] and thinking about how good u would look in a [school name] uniform).”

Martin received the last two. He didn’t know how to respond.Whitehead’s mother, Ericka Rambert, cringed when told of the content in some of the messages.

MOST coaches’ intent, they said, is to make it clear to the player they are interested, to let him know they are watching. Leading up to this month’s live recruiting period, when coaches and players are scattered across the country at showcase events, it was an easy way to plan out the month.

Several coaches said they would text the players after watching them, to let them know they were there.

Siena assistant coach Craig Carter tries to be unique, telling recruits what he is doing and connecting with them on a personal level, rather than telling the player how much he wants them.

CHAMBERS, the highly recruited guard from Team SCAN and Chester High School in Philadelphia, prefers coaches who talk to him about life as much as basketball. Severe is the same way. His favorite coach asks him about what he is studying as much as how many points he scored.

“I want to feel comfortable I can talk to the coach [I’m going to play for] about anything,” Severe said.

The rule would seem to favor younger coaches who have grown up in the technology age, coaches familiar with texting. But Martin, Severe, Chambers and Whitehead said they get texts from coaches of all ages, assistants and head coaches. Admittedly not a big texter, St. Peter’s coach John Dunne has gotten into the act.

“It’s like any other business,” the veteran coach said. “You have to keep up with the times if you want to succeed.”

Marist’s 43-year-old head coach Chuck Martin agreed.

“It’s an advantage for the smart guy,” Martin said, “the guy who understands how to use technology.”

CARTER, the Siena coach, said he thinks the extra contact could ease the exponentially-rising transfer rate. This past season, nearly 500 players switched schools. This, he said, will allow coaches and players to get to know each other better, which could lead to fewer mistakes.

“We have less time to see them in the summer, so character evaluation counts even more,” Niagara assistant Mike Farrelly said. “You can get to know kids better, but you still have to do your homework.”

Robert Morris coach Andy Toole, for instance, said coaches can gain insight into recruits by how often they respond, and when. Fordham coach Tom Pecora, however, said the bottom line regarding transfers is playing time.

“When you throw the ball up, there are more kids sitting than playing,” he said.

THE one consistent reaction to the new rule is it is a hot topic. For everyone in favor of it, there are those who oppose it. Some feel it is too much. Others can’t understand why there is a limit on college coaches seeing players during the spring and summer but they can now text and call them freely.

For the most part, players like the idea. Severe, the Christ the King guard with several scholarship offers, is like most kids these days who prefer to text rather than spend hours talking on the phone.

But there also are many who feel there should be restrictions of some kind, such as days per week or hours in a day.

“Recruiting is romance, and there are coaches who will do whatever it takes to get a kid,” Pecora said.

Montverde Academy’s Kevin Boyle, who has coached some of the nation’s most highly

recruited players — such as Cleveland Cavaliers Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving and the Charlotte Bobcats’ No. 2 overall NBA draft pick Michael Kidd-Gilchrist — plans to limit its use with rules for his players and the coaches contacting them.

“How much do you really need to say to a kid?” said Ron Naclerio, the coach of Queens PSAL powerhouse Cardozo.

KYLE Anderson Sr. — an AAU coach with the New Jersey Playaz Club whose son, Kyle Anderson, is now at UCLA and was one of the nation’s top prospects last year — said he feels it is up to the adults in a child’s life to school them on how to handle the barrage. There is no written rule, he pointed out, that makes kids respond. Pecora echoed that sentiment. He has told players that setting boundaries won’t diminish their recruitment.

But Christ the King coach Joe Arbitello said he doesn’t understand the need to limit such contact.

“If she was a hot 18-year-old, you wouldn’t limit it, would you?” Arbitello asked in jest.

Naclerio, who has sent countless players to the Division I level and had one of the nation’s top rising seniors in Jermaine Lawrence before he transferred, expects it to get out of hand. He has seen what his phone does when he has a big-time recruit.

“There’s going to be abuse,” he predicted. “Why don’t we just have unlimited recruiting? Why don’t we just have it so coaches can recruit every day they want. You need to have some rules.”

WHEN the NCAA passed the rule, it hoped “to limit the influence of third parties on the recruiting process,” based on a press release. Coaches don’t agree, at least not locally, where there are as many advisors, handlers or AAU coaches as there are Starbucks locations. Though the rule will allow coaches to go directly to kids, that won’t eliminate the third party, coaches say.

“That’s never going to happen,” said Iowa State assistant coach Matt Abdelmassih, who has made his mark recruiting New York City. “They are still with their kids every day. They are the ones that molded them when they were young, and they’re the ones who they trust and listen to.”

Or, as one advisor said, “My kid is going to tell me everything they say anyway.”

The advisors, Eastern Illinois assistant coach Dan Matic said, may circumvent the system by taking away their player’s phone. Matic does think it gives more power to the players and college coaches in the situation. Instead of relying on his handler for what a coach is saying, the player is seeing it firsthand.

“I think it takes power away from [advisors],” Matic said. “You’re going to have more kids make their own decisions. It’s putting it back in the kids’ hands.”

VIRTUALLY all parties agree that though the new texting rule may change recruiting somewhat, the same bottom line applies. Kids will go where they feel comfortable and with the coaches they are closest with.

“You can get it through text, calling, Twitter, Facebook, email or old fashioned courier mail,” said Martin, the Marist coach, “but it’s all about relationships.”